“Pushing their daughters into the public eye????????”

huh?

There is practically a media blackout on these kids. Are you kidding? All these articles about them take the tiniest little scrap of information and then write around and around and around it because there’s no real information to go on, and the Obamas will barely utter a word about the kids to the media.

$1/week seems pretty low to me. When I was their age, I got $2.50 or $3.50. My parents had it all subdivided for my sister and I: 10% to church, 10% to savings, etc. This taught us a lot about prioritizing our money’s uses.

Related: When my sister and I turned 13, and until we graduated high school, our parents started giving us $25 a week, which sounded like a lot. However, we still had to divide that into different uses: savings, church/charity, long-term spending (clothes, any large purchases), and short-term spending (movies, school lunches, candy/treats). Our parents helped us with big expenditures like winter gear or youth group retreats, but otherwise, we were on our own. This taught us A LOT about saving, shopping on bargain racks, packing our own lunches, deciding which social activities were really worth the money. We could do anything we wanted we wanted with our spending money, so our parents didn’t totally regulate us, but this way we NEVER asked them for money. We babysat and did extra work around the house (chores were simply required) to earn money above the $25 if we were so motivated. I think that I’ll probably repeat this with our own children. It taught us a lot, and for a relatively minor outlay, my parents never had to listen to us ask for money.

(I’m not saying that the Obamas need to do this, I’m just saying that in my own experience it was a great idea.)

Could they be any more adorable!? Probably not. I think $1 is on the low end, but not unreasonable for two girls who live very privileged lives and have completely devoted parents who want to keep the humble.

Joy Filled Girl. said:
More annoying to me: the idea that strangers think they have the right to comment on the way the Obama girls are being raised.

Of course people are going to comment on the way parents are raising their children if the parents provide the details. That’s what people do, it’s in our nature. Why should they receive a different standard. If the Obamas keep giving the public little tidbits about their girls I hope they don’t complain when they don’t like some of the publicity. If they keep pushing their kids into the public eye, inevitiably, something is going to get written they don’t like. I would suggest they stop and request no coverage from the media.

I think it is absolutely wonderful that the Obamas are taking their job as parents so seriously. The fact that they expect their daughters to make their beds and keep their rooms clean shows that they are teaching them responsibility. And the small allowance? I didn’t get any allowance as a child, my parents provided for me very well, and if I needed money for something extra I could usually get it. Strangely enough I would have killed for even a dollar’s worth of allowance. I am sure those girls will be very well provided for, and the allowance, however small, will make them proud of themselves for earning it.

Unless they are making them save for a coveted toy, a buck a week??? What could they buy with it, besides candy???

My younger kids get $5 per week. My oldest has a little job. We provide the basics–clothing, food, shelter, toiletries. My oldest knows that we don’t buy Abercrombie, so if he wants that, then he has to buy it himself. Same for special shoes and the like.

I never got an allowance either, and it taught me how to stretch birthday and Hanukkah money all year. My sister became an enterprising babysitter as a result as well. I could have done a lot with a dollar a week!